On that milk frothing wand

How afraid should I be of the milk frothing wand on my espresso maker? On the one hand, steam heat on a daily basis. On the other hand, dairy and not washed with soap. Nothing will keep me from my twice daily cappuccino, but if I ever get food poisoning, is the wand a potential culprit?

A sequence of images has been seared into my memory from every time I’ve ever watched a professional barista prepare an espresso drink. There’s the intensity of eye contact between man and milk as he cultivates the foam, the ritualistic bonking of metal milk pitcher against countertop, and the bobbing pour that transforms a lowly shot of espresso into your twice-daily sustenance. I never know whether this is pure theater or whether the omission of any one of these movements would yield a shitty cappu.

Me, I’m a drip coffee man. My standards fall somewhere between that of a cowboy and a teenager pulling his first all-nighter. I drink it for the jolt; it’s a bonus if most of the grounds have been filtered out.

But next time you’re at a coffee place, pay close attention to the final step of the barista’s dance. It’s pure food safety science. Donning a folded kitchen towel like a catcher’s mitt, the barista will spin the metal wheel and give the spewing steam wand a few tugs with his mitt. Thus, in one motion, he both distributes the pathogen-killing steam heat across the surface of the wand and wipes away any lingering milk-residue. The dance concludes. Customarily, the barista will then announce he’s going on break so he can smoke a clove cigarette and listen to the contemporary equivalent of Rusted Root. 

Your barista

As you mentioned, the sterilizing effects of the steam is the important part of this ritual, whether you order your drink or make it at home. Simultaneously giving the wand a quick wipe will prevent milk from burning and caking onto the wand. If the shaft gets permanently dirty, try steaming a little pitcher of soapy water and then hit it with the mitt. 

Bottom line: you’re not cultivating a food safety catastrophe with your espresso machine. If you do get food poisoning there’s a good chance that you played a role in it... but it’s unlikely that your coffee droid is the culprit.

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